New iPads to hit Apple stores on Friday

Staff at Apple's Covent Garden store confirmed that they will have the new iPads in the shop first thing on Friday morning, despite pre-orders clearing out piles of the slabs.

The store didn't have any tablets, explained the Apple helper on Monday, meaning that somewhere in the UK – and not in the back room of the Covent Garden store – there are crates full of multi-million pixel screen pads waiting to be packed on the shop shelves.

It will be hectic, said the Apple staff member, who was telling punters to get there early as they'd likely run out by the afternoon. Apple helpers were pushing the pre-orders, but admitted that there would be a two- to three-week wait for delivery. ®